Reflection
by Meneil
Summary: He was real, but he was only a reflection... oneshot Dark Link's PoV. :revised:


Quick A/N: This was revised slightly, but nothing major. I changed a few sentences to make them flow smoother. Editted out accidental contractions from DL's narrative. Curse you, DL! Why don't you use contractions?! Let me know if you find any more contractions I might have missed.

Reflection

There is a warrior whose heart is pure. This warrior, clothed in green, traverses across the lands of Hyrule and spreads good wherever he goes. Most of his deeds are done in secret, but I am with him always and know everything he does, though he knows it not. I admire him… I wish I were him, but I am not. The warrior's world is full of colors and full of people. My world is always faint in color and there is no one here. How I long that I could live in his blessed world, instead of my cursed land!

While I can always see him, there are only some times when he can see me. And when he does see me, he does not know who I am. He doesn't even know that I am real. He looks down at me… look, see! He is doing it now.

The warrior looks down at me, and pauses to run his fingers across his blond hair. His blue eyes watch me intently as I mimic his every move. No, I am wrong. He did not look down to see me; he was searching for himself. We are easily mistaken. I do not blame him. I am him and he is me, though we are different.

And then, without another thought, the warrior mounts on his horse and I am lost in his sight. I follow him. That is my curse. I shall always be with him; never free to go where I please.

Later, we see each other again. He is wading through the water at Hyrule Lake. Ah, I know now. He is going to the Water Temple. In order to free his land, the warrior needs to defeat the temple's guardian. In doing so, the lake's water will fully return. Currently 'Lake' Hyrule is nothing more than a puddle!

After changing into iron boots and his Zora tunic, the warrior sinks to the bottom of the lake and enters the undersea temple. The Water Temple is huge. There are traps, monsters, and tons of corridors and rooms. We see each other a lot, but he is distracted and pays me no attention.

I wish I were him. I wish I was in his world. I hate my land. I hate my life. There is nothing for me here. I am a prisoner; and what prisoner does not wish to be free? To tread across the green grass that I have never touched, to feel another human being's soft hand, to be a friend, to experience everything he has!

_I can give you that. _

A soft voice. Subtle, but I am fascinated. No one has spoken to me, yet this one has chosen to speak into my mind.

Who are you that you choose to speak to a nonentity like me?

_I am many and I am no one._

You speak in riddles.

_I am a wizard from the world you dream of._

Your voice is dark. Surely you are not a good wizard. You are not pure of heart, like the warrior I follow.

_Good and evil are only in the eyes of the beholder. I've come here to make you an offer; but if you won't listen, I'll just leave._

Forgive my rude manors. None have spoken to me. What you say about good and evil: I believe it to be true. What do you offer unto me?

_I can give you freedom. I can give you a life beyond your world. You can go into the other world that you always see and dream of._

Truly?

_But, there will be a price._

I know not what I can offer you. I have nothing.

_You say you have nothing, but there is something I want. I'll free you from your world, but you'll have to kill the warrior you follow._

My life is bound unto the warrior that you speak of. I cannot die until he does. Killing him would mean my death also.

_I'll break the dimensional bonds that bind you to him. Then you'll be immortal in his world. You won't die until you want to. For you see, if you were to be killed in the land of Hyrule, you would simply find yourself back in this realm. And if I open the portal, you'll be able to leave whenever you want. You'd be tied to nothing._

Ah… I see. But even so, the warrior's heart is pure… he had helped so many people. He has done everything in his power to aid everyone. Killing him would be a great loss…

_Really? Has he really helped everyone?_

Yes. Everything he has done has been for good.

_Has he ever helped you?_

…

_Has he ever thanked you? You've always been there for him._

…

_He doesn't even think he owes you anything, does he? He doesn't realize what you go through because of him. He is selfish. He hasn't even taken the time to think about you. Not once. You know this is true, because you've been with him all your life!_

…

_His death would mean nothing. Join me. Help me. You will fight him in his world. And if you like his world, stay there as long as you wish. He won't be able to defeat you, because you'd be immortal._

…You're right. He has done nothing for me. He hasn't even thought about me. His death would mean nothing.

_Then, the next room the warrior comes in, I'll make it so that you can enter his world. If he kills you, you'll find yourself back there. You can easily escape; just exit the portal. But you won't be able to leave that room until you defeat him. Deal?_

I agree. I swear I shall kill him.

The dark voice leaves me, most likely to create its magic. I am left alone, with no one but the warrior. The warrior who is pure of heart; the one that I shall shortly kill. If what the dark voice said is true and I become immortal, the warrior is doomed. Strange that I shall kill the one that I travel with and admire so… but the wizard is right. He means nothing to me.

The warrior enters through a door. Once the door closes, steel bars suddenly come crashing down to protect the door. This will prevent him from leaving, and the only way he can go is forward. The warrior looks down at me again, and I find that I have been fully displayed before him.

This is… the last time I shall see him on this side again. It is rare that he sees all of me… most of the time, he just sees my face. The warrior still is looking at me… does he know? His eyes shift, and he looks at his world instead. My eyes follow his… I see what he does. And I know… I know that he was not even thinking of me. It was foolish of me to dream otherwise.

This room is full of shallow water. There is a little piece of land with a door at the front and back of the room. Even stranger is the fact that a piece of earth is in the middle of the room. There is an old, barren, dying tree there.

The warrior walks forward. Instantly I feel a great magic placed upon me. It is pulling me. It is calling me. It is bringing me to the other world where the warrior lives. The sorcerer… he has kept his word so far. A portal opens before my eyes. It is… nothing more than a blue light, and yet I am inexplicably drawn toward it. My feet are pulled in the direction the warrior is going. He is headed towards the small island. In my world, I am headed towards the portal. As soon as the warrior steps upon the earth, I have entered through the portal.

I am sucked into the other dimension. It is not painful; rather it is just a great pulling sensation. And then I find myself in the other world.

The first thing I notice… is that my eyes hurt. This world is so much more colorful and bright than my land. The second thing I notice… is that I can move freely. My arms I stretch, while with my head I look at his world on this side for the first time. I am free for the first time in my life. I am free!

The warrior is walking to the door at the end of the room. He suddenly stops, and looks down. He is searching for me, but I am not there. I am here. He is… confused. Even though I haven't seen his eyes on this side of the world, I know what he would feel like. After all, I've known him since the beginning of our lifes.

I bet he is thinking, 'what has happened? Why is the one who is always with me not here?' Of course. He does not notice that I was with him until I left him.

But the warrior stops staring at the shallow water, and continues forward towards the unlocked door. When he reaches it, the same bars slide down upon it and block his path. He pauses yet again, and understands that he must first defeat a trap in order to break the seal. I am 'that trap,' he just doesn't know it yet. Then he turns around towards where I stand. His eyes first see the old tree, but then they quickly transfer beside it, where I stand.

For the first time, I can see him fully and he can also see me. He is vibrant in color, and a little fairy rests inside a corner of his hat. He unsheathes his sword and shield, for he knows I have come here to fight him. Out of pure habit I mimic him, and find that I have a sword and shield also. I cannot help but look at myself. I am not like him; I am grey and dull.

The warrior walks across the shallow water, ready for a fight. But I know this warrior will not make the first move, as he wants to know whether I have deemed him an enemy. The fairy that travels by the warrior's side quickly comes beside me. I know that the fairy will not attack me; it only gives the warrior information. The fairy chirps something about how the warrior must defeat himself and about me being Dark Link.

Dark Link… is that my name? I suppose it is. After all, I have no name that I can remember. What is the point of having a name when none will use it? In this world I can be somebody, so I shall be Dark Link.

I am now Dark Link, and I swear by my newfound name that I shall defeat the warrior. I lunge at him, but in my excitement I leave myself completely open. The warrior easily dodges and then quickly counters, slicing my body in half. But I don't want to die.

I find myself back in my cursed world, but the portal is still open. Since I am no longer bound to the warrior, I easily jump into the gate. Once again I find myself by the old tree.

Now, I just need to think clearly. I know all of the warrior's battle strategies. He'll probably try the one he normally does first…

Ah, here we go. He is coming at me. I recognize his stratagem. Quickly and efficiently he cuts in this order, and I mimic him: wide stroke, long cut, long cut, wide stroke, back jump, stab.

But I do not mimic his stab, for this is his weak point. Instead I jump forward, and my feet land precisely on his held blade's flat side. He holds the blade, with me on it, into the air. His right arm holds his shield by his side, and he is defenseless in his position. The warrior's eyes widen when he sees me perched upon his beloved Master Sword.

Now I stab forward, aiming directly for the warrior's head. By some quick reaction or luck, the warrior manages to move his head away in time. But my sword scraped part of his left cheek, and nicked part of his ear.

Before I can do more the warrior withdraws his sword and I trip. Then the warrior quickly jumps on me with his blade raised, and I die for the second time. For the third time I find myself back in my old world. Quickly I jump through the portal. Its blue light envelops me before I find myself back next to the tree.

Again the warrior meets me, and we battle. He tries a different strategy this time, but I recognize it also. Every time he swings his sword, I copy him until I see a weak point. Most of the time the warrior is quick and manages to escape my attack. One time, however, he overestimates his wide stroke and leaves his side open.

I stab the warrior. My sword goes through him. There is a small gasp, and I withdraw my sword. The warrior falls on his knees before reaching the floor. I stare blankly at his body, wondering if this was what _death _truly is.

My eyes transfer to my blade. Something red is upon it. It contrasts greatly to my dim and grey blade. Some of these red drops fall to the shallow water. The drops disturb the water's surface, forming small ripples that caress the warrior's face.

A pink light in the warrior's tunic gradually begins to glow. It is small at first, but then increases in length and brightness. A fairy circles above the warrior, giving its magic to him. The warrior begins to stir. He puts his hands upon the floor, and hoists himself up until he is standing. His eyes meet mine. Our fight is not finished.

I suddenly realize I have been holding my breath. As I begin to breathe again, I cannot help but feel partly relieved. I have been with this warrior so long; it feels strange that I betray him now. Is what I'm doing… wrong? But why would it be wrong? I am fighting for freedom… no more and no less.

Once again the warrior and I begin to exchange blows. This time he is using no strategy… he is just swing his sword. I try to keep mimicking him, but it is growing harder. His blue eyes are wild, and perspiration beads upon his forehead. His swordmanship is becoming more careless. He's beginning to understand that I am immortal and cannot be beaten. Rarely have I seen him despair like this.

I fail to mimic him once, and he quickly stabs me in my stomach. He is a fool. There is no point in continuing. I shall simply walk through the portal and return to fight again…

Wait, wait a second. Could it be that the warrior has been trying to offer me something? Could it be that _I_ have just been too selfish to realize what he was offering? The warrior is offering me freedom… and I have not accepted it. He offers me freedom from my cursed land, and I would not have to kill him.

How blind have I been, to not see this before…?

The portal begs to bring me back to my land. For the first time, the sword through my gut burns and throbs. My hand drops my sword, and it splashes in the shallow water. The warrior withdraws his sword, and regards me with wary eyes. No doubt he is wondering why I have not disappeared yet.

Instinctively my previous sword hand clutches my wound. I crouch slightly, and slowly force myself to release the wound. There is something wet and sticky. I open my palm and stare at it. When the warrior bled, it was red. But when I bleed, it is gray. Now I know that I do not belong in this world.

The world around me begins to grow dimmer. The colors I admired so begin to cloud. The voice that had spoken to me before was wrong. The warrior could give me something. The warrior had given me something.

He had given me death.

I fall first to my knees. If I am to die truly this time, then at least I will honor the warrior and die the same way he had. I open my mouth to tell the warrior my thanks, but no sound would come forth. My mouth is meant for forming words but not sound.

_What are you doing!_ The voice is back. It screams in my head, more painful than the wound through my stomach.

I am dying.

I fall completely to the Water Temple's floor.

I am dying…

Author's Note: Didn't know how to summarize this story. Got better ideas for the summary? Let me know. Oh and constructive criticism is greatly appreciated (well reviews of any kind are too).

Might take me a while to respond to reviewers on this. I will eventually though. If you're wondering… yes, that dark voice was Ganondork. I mean Ganondorf. ((gets mauled by Ganon fans))

Acknowledgments: Nintendo owns all the characters from this story. I have a lot of idea's for Dark Link but I rarely put them on paper. Ocarina of Time (owned also by Nintendo) inspired this story.


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